TRACES OF TERROR: THE AMERICAN PRISONER

TRACES OF TERROR: THE AMERICAN PRISONER; Chilling Portrait of Lindh Drawn In Prosecutors' Pretrial Motions

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: June 6, 2002

WASHINGTON, June 5—
The government painted a chilling portrait of John Walker Lindh this week, describing him in pretrial motions as someone who bears some responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks and for the death of Johnny Micheal Spann, a Central Intelligence Agency officer, in a prison uprising in Afghanistan.

Contrary to the depiction of Mr. Lindh, 21, originally from California, as an innocent abroad by his defense team, the government said that he was aware of plans for suicide attacks ''even worse'' than those of Sept. 11, that he could have alerted Mr. Spann that his life was in danger but instead chose silence and that he ''knew he was in league with a group of individuals dedicated to the murder of Americans.''

Prosecutors also said Mr. Lindh ''knew that future terrorist acts were planned, that these were likely to be even worse than the events of Sept. 11 and that these were targeted against his fellow Americans.''

They suggested that they learned the extent of Mr. Lindh's knowledge when the F.B.I. interviewed him in December, after he had been seized in Afghanistan. Mr. Lindh's team is seeking to suppress the interview, saying it was held under duress. They do not want it used against him in his trial, which starts on Aug. 26.

''As early as June 2001,'' the prosecutors said in papers filed in Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., ''Lindh also knew that terrorist acts -- specifically 20 suicide operations involving 50 operatives -- were being planned by his Al Qaeda associates and that his fellow Americans might well be the targets of those attacks.''

The government conceded that it did not have evidence that Mr. Lindh was directly involved in Mr. Spann's death, but it suggested that Mr. Lindh bore some responsibility for it.

''The fact that we do not have evidence that Lindh wielded the weapon that fired the bullet that killed Spann has been taken by the defense as an admission that Lindh was an innocent bystander,'' the prosecution said. ''He was neither a bystander nor in any respect can he be described as innocent.''

The government argued that none of the charges should be dismissed. Nor, it says, should the trial be moved from the Washington metropolitan region, as the defense seeks. Judge T. S. Ellis III has set hearings on the motions for this month.

In a 10-count indictment on Feb. 5, Mr. Lindh was charged with conspiracy to murder Americans and providing services to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, among other counts. He faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.